Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) are considered as a highly efficient and economical third generation photovoltaic devices. During the last three decades the technology has been studied scrupulously; however, its commercialization is hampered by relatively high cost components and low stability. The future of the field hugely depends on solving these issues. Platinum, a rare and expensive noble metal, is still being widely used as a cathode in many DSSCs. Its high cost and limited abundance may inhibit the large-scale manufacture of dye-sensitized solar cells. Furthermore, the precursors require high temperature sintering (&gt; 400 °C) to form elemental platinum which is not desirable for flexible substrates. Moreover, some reports claim stability related problems of platinum-based cathodes in DSSCs. For these reasons, there have been a growing interest to develop Pt-free counter electrodes for dye-sensitized solar cells. Among so many candidates, transition metal compounds (TMC) are considered a promising material as cathode for DSSCs. Among TMC, multinary (e.g. ternary and quaternary) transition metal compounds could be the target of immense attention due to their tuneable redox and bandgap. Cu-Co-S compounds have found many applications in energy storage devices, supercapacitors, photothermal therapy and catalysis by virtue of their excellent electrochemical properties, ease of preparation and remarkable stability. The mentioned properties make them a suitable cathode material for dye-sensitized solar cells. Hereby we present ternary copper-cobalt-sulfides as a low cost, high efficient cathode for DSSCs.

Ternary copper-cobalt-sulfides as a cathode for dye-sensitized solar cells

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

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